김남천, 식민지 말기 ‘역사’에 관한 성찰 -「경영」과 「맥」을 중심으로 (Kim Nam-cheon, Speculation on “History” in Late Colonial Era : Management(經營) and Barley(麥))

서지정보

· 발행기관 : 현대문학이론학회
· 수록지 정보 : 현대문학이론연구 / 47호 / 271 ~ 296페이지
· 저자명 : 이진형

초록

이 논문의 목적은 김남천의 소설론을 통해서 「경영」과 「맥」 연작을 재독하는 데 있다. 이 작업은 두 작품에서 김남천이 이 시기 조선 사회를 식민지 법과 자본에 의해 재생산되는 세계로서 묘사하는 한편, ‘맥(麥)’의 비유를 통해서 당대 사회에 관한 역사적 성찰을 감행했음을 밝혀준다.
김남천은 리얼리즘에 대한 강한 믿음 위에서 소설 장르에 관한 논의를 전개했다. 그에게 리얼리즘 문학이란 당대 사회에 관한 비판적 인식을 추구하는 문학으로서 고발문학과 관찰문학으로 구체화되었다. 이때 그가 의존한 것은 무엇보다도 ‘부정의 부정’, 즉 이중부정의 논리였다. 김남천은 식민지 말기 조선 사회의 부정적 면모들을 아무런 왜곡 없이 부정적인 것들로서 묘사할 때, 비록 부정적인 방식일지라도 그 사회의 지양태(止揚態)(사회적 이상)에 관한 포착이 가능하다고 보았던 것이다. 이와 같은 리얼리즘 구상은 소설 장르의 경우 ‘전형적 성격들의 풍속도’라는 규정으로 구체화되었다.
「경영」과 「맥」에서 김남천은 식민지 말기 조선 사회에 관한 비판적‧역사적 인식을 추구했다. 우선 김남천은 아파트 사무원으로 일하면서 오시형의 출소를 위해 사법 영역에도 능통하게 되는 최무경의 모습을 통해서 식민지 조선인들의 일상적 삶이 식민지 법과 자본에 의해 지배되고 있음을 보여주었다. 그리고 김남천은 인간의 역사를 ‘보리’에 비유함으로써 당대 조선 사회의 역사에 관한 성찰을 감행했다. 그는 사회적 이상이나 바람직한 미래에 관한 주관적 상상물을 제시하기보다, ‘보리’의 비유에 의존함으로써 당대 사회에 관한 정밀한 묘사를 제시하는 동시에 부정적인 방식일지라도 사회적 이상이나 바람직한 미래를 포착하고자 했던 것이다. 그 결과 김남천은 당대 사회의 부정적 면모를 묘사하는 가운데 식민지 법과 자본에 의해 지배되는 사회의 ‘비약’에 관해 성찰할 수 있었다.

영어초록

The aim of this paper is to re-interpret Management(經營) and Barley(麥) authored by Kim Nam-cheon using his own view of novel. This paper has focused on the description of the world which as he described was reproduced by the capital and colonial laws and on how he looked at the situation of later colonial ear.
Kim Nam-cheon developed the discussion on the novels based on realism. The realism literature for him was one of literature by which he can criticize and observe the society he was in. The realism literature not only described the situation of the then-current society concentrating on contradiction, conflict, antagonism and fraud, but also criticizes and accused the then-current situation. In his literature, the recognition of the society included the criticism of the society. In addition to the critical view of the society at that time, the realism literature for him also meant the historical recognition of the society. This logic he adopted was negation of negation, or double negation. He thought that if the late colonial era was depicted as undesirable society without any deformation, the description of social ideal form may be possible even if it is depicted in a negative way. The kind of realism was embodied in the picture of custom(風俗圖) of typical characteristics for his novels. The custom(風俗) here meant not only the social institutions organizing the specific living types but also their ideologies. The typical characteristics also indicated the concept of the hierarchical and classical existence of people (ideological subjects) living in that society. Therefore, the novel was one of the literature for criticizing the society at that time using the custom and the typical characteristics. It was also a means of describing the social ideal and desirable future in a negative way.
In both novels of Management(經營) and Barley(麥), Kim Nam-Cheon tried to take a critical look at the Joseon society in late colonial era using the characters of Choi Mu-gyeong, Oh Si-hyeong, Lee Gwan-hyeong and Choi Mu-gyeong's mother. First of all, Kim Nam-cheon showed how much Korean people were dominated by colonial laws and capitals at that time, through the figure of Choi Mu-gyeong worked as a clerk in an apartment management office and mastered a judicial circle by studying the laws in order to help Oh Si-hyeong get out of a prison. In addition, he described the ideological relation in Joseon society through Oh Si-hyeong's plural view of history, Lee Gwan-hyeong's skepticism, Choi Mu-gyeong's active conformism and the mother's pre-modern ethics. The Joseon society in late colonial era depicted in Management and Barley was not only dominated by the colonial laws and capitals but also the plural view of history (Imperialist ideology), skepticism, active conformism and pre-modern ethics. Kim Nam-cheon tried to describe the history of that society by comparing the human history of that time to ‘barley’. The ‘barley’ here means the history of ‘repetition’ and history of ‘jump’ at the same time. Instead of suggesting the social ideal and desirable future with subjective imagination, he tried to compare it to the barley, thus suggesting the precise depiction of that society but also catching the social ideal and desirable future even though he used the negative way. Though he did not suggest us the bright vision on the history, but he tried to show us the jump of a society which was dominated by colonial laws and capitals using the negative description of that society.

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